A call for an investigation into the discovery of another case of BSE in an animal born after Irish feed controls became fully effective has been made by Fine Gael's agriculture spokesman, Mr Billy Timmins.
Yesterday the Department of Agriculture and Food announced that one of the eight new cases this week was five years old, which meant it was born in 1997, after pig and poultry feed was segregated from cattle feed.
This is the third such case this year. The Department said it expected to discover a small number of such cases because some farmers may have used contaminated feed left over from the previous year, or fed poultry food to calves.
However, last night Mr Timmins expressed concern at the finding of the third animal, which came from a beef herd in Co Donegal, and said he wanted the fullest possible examination of the circumstances of the animal.
"It is very important that we rid the country of BSE and farmers must work with the Department to do so.
"There must be a full examination of this case and I will be bringing this matter up with the Minister for Agriculture, Mr Walsh, as soon as possible."
On Thursday Mr Walsh announced that his Department was cutting back on its input into BSE because it appeared that the number of cases would begin to drop over the next two years and the disease would be eradicated.
He said the age profile of the animals being found with the disease was generally in line with expectations and that the underlying trend remained positive, indicating the enhanced controls introduced in 1996 and 1997 were proving effective.
The Minister said the Department would no longer pay the €19 million bill for testing animals over 30 months old for BSE in factories because consumers were demanding younger animals.
He added that he was in discussion over the Department's costs in relation to the rendering and disposal of meat and bone meal.
The eight new cases this week brought the year's total to 301, the highest on record since the disease was identified here in 1989.
Over 565,000 tests have been carried out for the disease so far this year. The average number of cases per week in October was six, compared to 6.5 in October 2001.